


Your Unrequited Love for Life

by choccy__o



Series: Mellohi's Dream SMP Shorts [4]
Category: Minecraft (Video Game), Video Blogging RPF
Genre: Best Friends, Memories, Memory Loss, Mentioned Dream SMP Ensemble, Mentioned Technoblade (Video Blogging RPF), Platonic Cuddling, Platonic Relationships, Platonically Married Ranboo and Toby Smith | Tubbo, Ranboo Angst (Video Blogging RPF), Uncle Technoblade (Video Blogging RPF)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-11
Updated: 2021-03-11
Packaged: 2021-03-18 11:49:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,636
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29982432
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/choccy__o/pseuds/choccy__o
Summary: He feels it coming long before it truly takes effect. He knows it'll all be gone soon, and it's not like he can prevent it. It circles, in a slow, torturous motion that has him on edge. At any moment it will dive down, and just like that he'll be far away again. He knows it's coming, he always does, but he swallows it downor, Ranboo has memory loss and Tubbo reminds him of what's important.(title from redo by modern baseball)
Relationships: Ranboo & Toby Smith | Tubbo
Series: Mellohi's Dream SMP Shorts [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2142720
Comments: 6
Kudos: 205





	Your Unrequited Love for Life

**Author's Note:**

> remember, Tubbo and Ranboo are platonically married. This is in no way a ship fic, it just shows their close relationship :)

He feels it coming long before it truly takes effect. He knows it'll all be gone soon, and it's not like he can prevent it. It circles, in a slow, torturous motion that has him on edge. At any moment it will dive down, and just like that he'll be far away again. He knows it's coming, he always does, but he swallows it down.

He and Tubbo sit on the porch swing outside Tubbo's home in Snowchester. The dripping sweet domesticity of the moment fills him with momentary warmth. His best friend is tucked close to his side, his curly head of hair tickling Ranboo's neck. But he isn't bothered by it, and Ranboo tries not to let the tears fall, if only to hold on to a few more moments of calm. 

Tubbo dozes in the false peace of the moment. The creaking wood of their bench is ever present in his subconscious, as well as the touch of his best friend, the only two things grounding him here for a moment longer.

Until Michael squeals a few feet away from the duo. 

Michael had been a strange circumstance, to say the least. Yes, he was a zombie piglin, and yes, he had lived submerged in lava for hours on end at one point. But he was Michael, and Tubbo and Ranboo had gotten officially married to adopt him and keep him safe. Quickly, they realized after saving him from the nether that they couldn't just release a child into the wilderness of a new realm he had never visited, and even more quickly, the duo became attached to the little boy they cared for.

Ranboo smiles, enjoying the memory while it lasts. He pulls Tubbo closer, basking in the scene: his best friend and platonic husband lazily enjoying his presence, all while their son whoops and hollers with such a childlike joy while playing in the snow. It's a miracle he isn't harmed by the snow, being a nether being and all, but as long as their son is happy he doesn't care.

He tries as hard as he can to take a mental picture--sometimes they remain after it happens, sometimes they don't--and finally allows the first tears to fall. It's not terrible, at first. It's only after a few moments of sniffling, when he feels the familiar burning that traces the already present scars on his face.

Beside him, Tubbo shifts, and he can't hold it in anymore, allowing a dry sob to shake the two of them. He doesn't want Michael to hear. Tubbo pulls away, looking towards his husband, and after a moment his eyes harden in what must be pain. Ranboo mentally scolds himself for not holding it in. 

Abruptly, Tubbo stands up, and for a small sliver of time Ranboo thinks he's leaving. But Tubbo only swoops up Michael and tells him something that Ranboo can't make out, walking inside. The wood of the porch creaks as the door swings open on iron hinges.

When Tubbo returns, it's already foggy, and all he can do is hold Ranboo as his sobs greaten in noise and the fog overtakes his fragile mind. He drifts away, and he knows he is safe, so he smiles.

.

.

.

Tubbo doesn't cry until long after his husband floats away in his own mind. He has to stay strong, for Ranboo, for when he eventually comes to.

He doesn't cry until after he carries his best friend into their room, lays him in the bed, and tucks him in. Ranboo always loves waking up warm and fuzzy, especially when this happens. 

He doesn't cry until late into the night, after Michael stops asking what's wrong with his papa, and falls asleep in Tubbo's arms on the couch. He learned after the first time that it hurts his husband more to wake in the arms of a familiar stranger than to wake up alone.

He cries after everything settles, and all that's left to do is wait until his best friend wakes up and has to go through the traumatizing experience of forgetting his own name.

.

.

.

Michael is confused about why he can't see his papa. But dad says to drop it, and so he does.

.

.

.

.

.

.

He wakes up to an unfamiliar room, with a strangely comfortable knitted blanket wrapped snugly around his arms. He slightly panics at first, not knowing his surroundings.

But he only panics more when he realizes he has no cognitive memories of  _ any _ rooms- no childhood bedroom, no living room-

He doesn't even know his own name.  _ Or what he looks like _ . While his instincts scream at him to start yelling, or digging through his surroundings until he finds  _ something  _ that could help him, he takes a deep breath and swallows his worries, because this situation feels strangely familiar.

A mirror over a chest of drawers reveals his split colored skin and hair, imprints in his skin from sleeping for gods know how long. Now that he thinks about it, he had probably slept for a while, if the sudden dizziness accompanied by a hunger pang meant anything.

He is broken out of his trance by the opening of a door, and he turns around so quickly that his foot catches on the edge of the bed, sending him landing hard on the wooden floor. He instinctively raises his arms to cover his head, closing his eyes and waiting for the pain, because even though he did nothing wrong his instincts tell him he is about to be punished-

"Ran?"

The voice is smooth and familiar, touching upon an inaccessible sector of his brain that feels like a tight hug.

Ran? Is that his name? It sounds close enough to what his subconscious remembers, so he goes with it.

Still, he doesn't trust this person, he doesn't know them. And so he keeps his head buried in his crossed arms, waiting and praying that the other person will leave. Surprisingly, it works. The person places something down on the floor, and with a deep sigh leaves the room.

It's a leather bound book, worn at the edges, that makes his mind quiet for a moment.

.

.

.

It's another hour before Ranboo emerges from the bedroom, and Tubbo bites his nails anxiously. Despite having helped his partner through this multiple times already, it's still as stressful each time, simply because he doesn't know if the memories will suddenly be permanently gone one day.

He knows it must be hard for Ranboo himself as well, blinking in and out of conscious memory making. 

Michael is being taken care of by his uncle Techno, who Tubbo knows is secretly delighted by the boy. Having a Piglin to spend time with, especially a child, is bound to make the older man happy.

Ranboo tentatively sits down on the couch with the book clasped in his hands, disheveled hair and wrinkled suit along with the eye bags accentuating not only his physical exhaustion but also the mental strain.

He speaks.

"You- You're Tubbo?"

Tubbo nods. Ranboo wrings his hands together before gesturing to the two of them.

"And we're… married?"

Another nod.

"And we have a whole child."

One final nod. Tubbo sucks in a breath, waiting for Ranboo to freak out again as he had the first few times this happened, but he doesn't. Ranboo just twiddles his thumbs and stares at his lap.

"Who proposed?"

Tubbo bursts into giggles at the so characteristically Ranboo question. Ranboo jumps at the noise, though, and so Tubbo moves closer and wraps an arm around the other boy.

The two had actually flipped a coin, back when the marriage was but a joke. Ranboo chose heads, and lo and behold the shiny gold coin landed on heads. With time however the two realized that they really did want to get married, as best friends, and for their child.

Tubbo smiles, reminiscing on the day when Ranboo did propose. It was sweet, and dorky, and everything he would've expected from the taller boy. 

He absentmindedly rubs his finger along the heart locket strung around his neck.

"You did, big man."

Ranboo looks terrified at the idea, sending Tubbo into another laughing fit. He reaches out and moves Ranboo's hand to touch at the heart locket that he wears. Ranboo looks down at it in awe, tracing the engraving on the outside before opening it to reveal the cheesy picture of the pair placed inside. He snorts.

Tubbo considers telling him the circumstances of the proposal, but decides against it. It's more fun to watch as the memories come back to his husband; He loves seeing the delight in Ranboo's eyes when he uncovers a special memory and is overcome with fondness all over again.

Ranboo asks more questions about the two of them, and Michael, and Techno and Phil and Wilbur and Tommy-

And before they know it the two fall back into a familiar banter. Every few topics Ranboo has to ask Tubbo to explain, pointing out scribbled notes in the memory book, and Tubbo watches as the familiar scenes play in Ranboo's mind. As he uncovers the joy of their first interactions with each other, and with Michael.

Ranboo is still confused about most things, but he takes them in stride. Much better than last time.

"Speaking of Michael, where is he? I'd like to meet him."

Tubbo points to the door, and when Ranboo's eyes widen he has to stop himself from laughing to explain that no, their son isn't outside in the snow, he is with his uncle Techno.

Ranboo blushes profusely, burying his face into Tubbo's shoulder. Tubbo pets his husband's hair, and before he can blink Ranboo is asleep, all six foot six of the ender boy leaned against Tubbo. 

Tubbo smiles.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! I love you guys, stay safe healthy and hydrated <3
> 
> kudos and comments make my day :)
> 
> find me on tumblr at mellohi-s


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